Press/194
10 October 2000WTO's
General Council approves accession of Oman

The
WTO's General Council today (10 October 2000) approved
the accession of the Sultanate of Oman to the World Trade
Organization. Following the General Council's approval,
Maqbool Ali Sultan, Oman's Minister of Commerce and
Industry, accompanied by WTO Director-General Mike Moore,
signed the Protocol of Accession thereby completing the
process of the Sultanate to become the 139th Member of
the WTO on 9 November 2000.

Oman's forthcoming accession is a new vote of
confidence in the WTO, said Mr. Moore. No
nation, large or small, can secure its future alone, and
the Multilateral Trading System provides a stable and
predictable framework for economic engagements between
nations and for the business community. That in turn
promotes growth, employment and prosperity.

Mr.
Moore added: About thirty candidates are lining up
to join the WTO. They see the benefits of a system based
on the rule of law and not by the exercise of power.
Its a system that has served us well now for more
than fifty years and has provided for open markets and an
unprecedented economic growth.

Mr.
Moore welcomed the conclusion of Oman's negotiations,
which started in April 1996, and looked forward to the
Sultanate becoming a full Member of the Organization.

Mr
Maqbool ali Sultan reiterated that the Sultanate of Oman
attaches great importance to its membership of the WTO.
He stressed that Oman sincerely believes in the
principles of the multilateral trading system embodied in
the WTO rules, and in fact, Oman has been following these
principles for a long time. Mr. Sultan added that
Membership of the WTO is a reaffirmation of Oman's
commitment to the principles of the Multilateral Trading
System.

Oman's
main merchandise exports are mining products,
particularly fuels, which account for 78 percent of the
Sultanate's total exports. The main merchandise imports
are manufactures, in particular machinery and transport
equipment. The Sultanate is now in the process of
diversifying its economy after making efforts to
introduce or amend legislation to ensure that its WTO
obligations are fulfilled from the date of accession.

Seven
countries in the Middle Eastern region are already
members of the WTO : Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Two others
are still in the process of negotiation : Lebanon and
Saudi Arabia.